Apple releases Safari 4 beta for Mac and PC

Surfing Safari: Apple

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

While the browser wars aren't as exciting as they used to be, things are starting to shake up. Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8 seems to be a whole new beast and offers better functionality with less bloat more security and added speed. Current leader Firefox has been evolving steadily and gives users a richer user experience with its large selection of add ons. Google's Chrome, quickly gaining ground for its simplicity and speed. Apple's Safari has been great for Mac users and somewhat lacking their PC counterparts but with the recently released Safari 4 beta, there are some interesting changes across the board.
See all of your favourite sites on Safari 4


The Safari Experience

The latest version of Safari, which is available as a beta for both Mac and PC (Hear that, Chrome?) seems faster than Safari 3 and the new Top Sites View seems handy for resuming where you left off before previously. You get the option of seeing anywhere between the last six to twenty websites that you visited with thumbnails of the webpages. You can also scroll through your bookmarks in CoverFlow mode just as you would your photos in iPhoto or your albums in iTunes. While this is novel, it can get distracting for some. On Windows Vista, Safari now seems to be a native application and despite the odd placement of the tabs in the interface, it does work quite well.

Safari 4 seems speedier than Firefox 3.0.6 and very similar to Chrome (which shouldn't be surprising since they are both developed from Webkit ) so they are running on the same engine. Apple has called their implementation the Nitro Engine and has posted some of their comparative results against popular browsers. Using the Google search bar is predictive and seems to offer up a number of useful options based on previously searched items or higher ranked items on the search engines.
Search smarter with the options offered up by Safari

In the Mix
The enthusiasm for Safari's earlier versions from PC users was rather dismal. There were too many compromises and while speed was there, Google Chrome seemed a better browser overall. Right now things could change, although Safari is way behind in usage it may at least overtake Google Chrome and older versions of Internet Explorer, who knows.

Apple has shown some flexibility with the Windows native look and feel on the PC version of the beta which should make PC users a bit more comfortable. The verdict on the new tabbed interface is still out, personally It is something we can get used to. Once Safari 4 goes beyond beta and the plugins ( like our favourite Foxmarks) are available and stable, it should be interesting to see how people respond. We are just really curious as to why Apple is fervently pushing their browser initiative and ensuring the cross-platform availability.



The best thing about Safari 4 is that it will push its competition to rethink their features and their performance and this can only be a good thing for us users. Its got a very, very long way to go but Apple seems comfortable coming in from behind and challenging the status quo.

The browser, after all, has become the most important and most used application for the majority of users and we all know that market share in this space leads to better branding opportunities.